Diego Costa's ban upheld by FA, will miss Manchester City match

Diego Costa will be serving a three-match ban after all. The Chelsea forward appealed the suspension (with the full support of the club, no less), he received for the "on-field incident involving Liverpool's Emre Can", but the FA have dismissed said appeal and stuck to their guns, leaving the striker unavailable for tomorrow's big game against Manchester City.

Here's the FA statement.

Diego Costa will serve a three-match suspension with immediate effect after a charge of violent conduct against him was found proven by an Independent Regulatory Commission on Friday 30 January 2015.

The Chelsea forward had denied the charge in relation to an on-field incident involving Liverpool’s Emre Can which occurred in the 12th minute of the League Cup semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday 27 January 2015.

The incident was not seen by the match officials but caught on video.

Proven, is of course, a dangerous word, especially for those of us more mathematically than legally inclined. And while I'm surprised that this charge was 'proven' so easily -- Costa either took great pains to ensure that there was plausible deniability in his choice of landing spot or landed on Can entirely by accident -- proofs aren't very hard to come by given certain axioms. And the FA's behaviour indicates that they were using the following rule: Diego Costa must not be allowed to play on Saturday*.

*He'll also miss the trip to Villa Park and the home match against Everton.

I suppose they have to keep the title race interesting somehow.